


That Darn Ice Cream Truck

by Benedicthiddleston



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Community: 1_million_words, Crack, Gen, LJ, Time Travel, Weird, ice cream truck, prompts, weekend challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-13
Updated: 2014-04-13
Packaged: 2018-01-19 06:29:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1459381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Benedicthiddleston/pseuds/Benedicthiddleston
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bones inherits his adoptive brother's ice cream truck just when he's scrambling to escape his previous crime fighting ways. He wants nothing to do with the truck. What happens when he finds out the truck is much more than it seems?</p><p>Slight canon divergence.</p>
            </blockquote>





	That Darn Ice Cream Truck

**Author's Note:**

> CANON DIVERGENCE. Because ya know, think about it like this.... (see end notes for more clues)
> 
> Written for the weekend challenge of April 11th-13th at the [LJ community 1_Million_Words](http://1-million-words.livejournal.com/634923.html). 
> 
> Prompts included: Scenario: a private detective who quits because he's seen too much inherits a food truck and finds it can travel through time ; Things: twins ; Words: tinge and galactic
> 
> Unbeta'd and I DON'T OWN ANYTHING!

**That Darn Ice Cream Truck**

“DAMN IT JIM!”

“What?! I told you, Spock-“

Leonard “Bones” McCoy glared at his adoptive brother, shaking his head. “I don’t _want_ the ice cream truck. You know that.”

“But Spock relinquished it to you in his Will. You wouldn’t disown my twin brother now, would you?! Plus, it’s outside. You don’t even have to go get it from Portland. I brought it TO you!”

‘Outside’ meant danger. Bones had just recently quit his private detective job because of all the things he’d gotten into – the crime, the lies, the truths, the _blood_. He even had a price over his head, and he preferred to stay completely hidden from the ‘outside’ world. No internet, no cell phone, no _phone_ at all, a hidden basement, no car, a maid who didn’t even know the address of his home, and only immediate family could even _find_ him. He was hoping to move out of San Francisco as soon as possible, but he had to clean up a few messes prior to evacuating.

Like the mess sitting in front of him.

“Jim, I don’t want the ice cream truck. I mean, hell, does ‘I don’t want a fucking car or any electronics’ mean _anything_ to you?!”

His brother sighed. “He – _Spock_ thought it would be useful for you. That’s all.” He looked – sad. His twin brother had died slowly. It hadn’t been a fast disease. It had been agonizing, waiting for the end. By the time Spock had breathed his last; all arrangements had been set out. Jim had been sitting at Spock’s side for weeks waiting for the end. It had been anticipatory grief, really.

Bones clenched and unclenched his hands, the red tinge of blood disappearing into pale white as he squeezed circulation out of the area. “I – I understand that, Jim. I do. But… I already have people hunting me. I can’t go around in an _ice cream_ truck. I would look too obvious. But – if it means so much to you – and rest in peace – Spock, I’ll keep it for now. It’ll let me pack up my things and get out of town in the next few – weeks.”

Jim nodded. “I-I get that.”

“I need to get some things done. Let me take you to the nearest bus station so you can get to the airport at a reasonable hour.”

“Yeah… Bones?”

He wanted to growl. He had earned that name because of his work – all the bones he had seen and touched and dealt with, literally and metaphorically. But he just sighed and waved for Jim to continue. “What?”

“We both loved you. Spock loved you. I love you. Don’t – don’t do something _stupid_. Maybe – maybe the ice cream truck can help you out. I – I don’t know.”

He shrugged. “Maybe.”

* * *

Three days later Leonard was hastily shoving a packed box into the ice cream truck and slamming the doors shut, his nerves frayed.

He’d seen _them_. They were after him. He needed to get out of town – and _fast_.

With a last look at the home he’d called his own for over twelve years, Leonard jumped into the driver’s seat of the truck and slowly made his way out of the neighborhood.

He got onto the nearby highway and headed south – the opposite direction of his brother, his late brother, and the life he once had.

The dumb truck was a stick shift, and Leonard was a bit unfamiliar with the gears. He started messing with them twenty minutes later, trying hard to find the air conditioning. He pushed a button and – nothing happened. He continued to fiddle, growing agitated as time passed and he couldn’t find what he wanted.

That’s when it happened.

The truck shook once, twice, _three_ times, throwing Leonard off his seat into the aisle way. It lurched, shook a fourth time, and then the world outside the truck’s windows turned into a blur.

He thought he was going crazy.

Time passed with aching slowness, until finally the truck lurched a fifth and final time before crunching into hard ground.

Leonard slowly stood up, shaking himself to make sure he was unhurt. For the most part he felt okay. No worse than wear, and definitely no worse than what he had experienced as a private detective. He glanced around the truck, noting all his stuff was still him.

However, the view outside the windows was another story _entirely_.

_Oh god, where am I?!!_

It was certainly _desert_ and _lonely_ , but in the distance seemed to be a sprawling oasis – _No, no, on second thought, not an oasis. That looks like a… a…_

He stepped from the truck, looking around at his surroundings. Desert definitely. But also – corn. Rows and rows and _rows_ of corn.

“What the fuck?” he whispered to himself, his brain shorting out as he wondered where he was. He’d been on the highway heading out of San Francisco just a few moments ago. Now he was – _where is this? When is this? What?_

Forgetting about his stuff and the truck, Leonard headed for the sprawling construction site before him. It was about a mile away, but it was obvious. It was definitely _galactic._ In the middle of the flat planes of _wherever the hell he was_ stood the construction site of some metal structure. It spanned hundreds of feet in either direction and it was only partially finished.

 _I need to find out information_.

With determination, Leonard noticed a crowd of people near the construction site, many of them in completely red outfits. He obviously was about to stand out like a sore thumb, but he wanted answers. _Who, what, why, where?!_

He crept up on the group, listening closely to an obvious leader dressed in all black as he talked.

“As you can see, the new Constitution Class ships will be faster, sleeker, and much more technologically advanced. While this one has not been named yet, it will be the ‘Fleet’s flagship. After this one is finished, given into the hands of Captain Christopher Pike, more will be built after a trial run. As you are academy students, you may have the privilege of being aboard her maiden voyage across the stars when she hits the sky in three years.

“Any questions?”

A few hands were raised as Leonard raised an eyebrow and silently moved away from the group.

 _Ship. Stars. Captain. Fleet? Space ships. What?_ Space travel was barely plausible in – in Leonard’s own time period. _Where am I?! What year is it?!_

“Hey, you!”

Leonard froze, gulping. “Um, me?”

A stern, white faced man in a construction uniform stomped up to him, grabbing his arm roughly. “Who are you? What are you doing here? Don’t you know you have to wear the requisite uniform while around here! It’s dangerous!”

“I-I-I – I’m lost. I’m sorry.” He was dumbfounded momentarily, realizing he was being dragged across the dirt towards a waiting car. _What?!_

“I’m taking you to my supervisor.”

“Wait, I didn’t mean to trespass – I was – curious. What is this place? Are you really building a space ship? That’s not even POSSIBLE! Holy crud, what year is it?!”

The guy looked back at him as they continued forward, his face a morph of confusion and anger. “IT’S 2255! Of COURSE WE HAVE SPACE TRAVEL! Where have you been living?”

_Oh god, I’m over two hundred years in the future. Oh SHIT!_

_JIM. JIM!!!!!!!!!!!!_

Leonard felt everything collapse in on him. _My ice cream truck. My things. It – it transported me into the future. Oh fuck. I gotta get back to it._

Shoved into a car that started moving without a driver, Leonard felt the construction workers eyes on him as he was given a once over. “You really aren’t from around here, are you?”

He shook his head, gulping. “I – I think I’m really lost.”

“Well, you trespassed. And that’s a big offense. Tons of people want in on that beauty. She’s going to be Starfleet’s next big thing. We’ll get to stars faster and with less problems than before. The _Farragut_ has nothing on our next lady. She’ll be Constitution Class, the next best flagship. The Klingons will have no idea what hit them.”

Leonard just blinked, understanding about every third word without any context in the sentence.

The car stopped and the door opened, the construction worker with no name pushing Leonard out into the hot sun _. Damn it, where are we?_

“Where – where are we?” He finally asked as they traversed through a sea of buildings.

“Iowa.”

 _God, that’s even worse_.

They stopped in front of a door and the worker banged on the door, impatient. “PIKE! PIKE, GET OUT HERE! I HAVE NEW BLOOD FOR YOU!”

 _Huh?_ “Wait, what?”

The door opened without hesitation and a completely unfamiliar individual stepped over the threshold. “Hendorff, why aren’t you in your cadet reds?!”

The construction worker shrugged. “I was busy with helping out in the Engineering section, sir.”

The man sighed and rubbed his temple. “Okay. Well, who is this?”

Leonard gulped again, taking a step back. “L-L-Leonard McCoy, sir.”

With raised eyebrows, the man gave him a once over. “Hmm, fit. Interesting clothes. He actually might do. He should be perfect for tomorrow morning. I have a feeling Kirk will be more amiable to this. I’m Captain Christopher Pike. Among other nobler things, I recruit individuals to Starfleet Academy for travel and exploration in space. You understand, yes?”

Leonard just nodded, even though he didn’t. “Space travel. Yeah, totally understand.”

“Good, because I need your help. Tonight I will be trying to convince a close friend he should join the service. However, he’s very – adamant about not going. He had a bad record with the service. I think you might just do some good in helping him be convinced it’s the right thing for him. As you have now been recruited, you are under my hand. Understand?”

Leonard paled. “I’m – what?”

“Trespassing is a crime, Mr. McCoy. As I don’t desire to charge you for the crime, I’d prefer a trade off. I don’t charge you and you come to work for me. Under the service, in Starfleet Academy.”

“I don’t even belong in this _decade_ , sir.”

“Time travel seems to be an unexpected result of some heinous events around here, McCoy. I’d say it doesn’t faze me.”

Leonard wilted. He was never going to get home, was he? _Might as well make the best of it_.

“What do you need me to do?”

**Author's Note:**

> Now just image the movie plays out almost exactly as it is did :D lol. Even though there would be slight differences. I'll let you imagine those! 
> 
> And yes, I'm ending it here. This was just random weirdness anyway.


End file.
